by Daniel Freeman-Maloy

Canadian Dimension, November/December 2006 Issue

Under Paul Martin’s Liberals and Stephen Harper’s Conservatives, the Canadian government has rapidly shed any pretense at having an independent foreign policy. In Haiti, Canadian forces joined their U.S. and French counterparts in carrying out the coup d’ tat of 2004, overthrowing the elected Lavalas government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide and instituting a foreign occupation of the country. In Afghanistan, similarly, thousands of Canadian troops are engaged in combat operations to defend the U.S.-ledoccupation and allow the U.S. military to focus its resources on Iraq. For years, escalating Canadian support for Israel has been part of this trend. In recent months, it has become more unabashed than ever.

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  YAHMOUR – Daily Star: The tiny Southern village of Yahmour is situated between Nabatiyeh and Arnoun. Strewn around the village, which is home to some 450 families, are seemingly endless olive groves and tobacco fields. During the 34-day war in Lebanon this summer, Israeli air strikes hit Yahmour particularly hard. Less than half of the houses are still standing, many of them only partially so.

Now, with the early onset of the rainy season, tempestuous weather is forcing villagers to endure further hardships.

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Beirut –www.samidoun.org– On Saturday November 4, 2006, the National Demining Office, and the National Steering Committees for Mine Risk Education and Victim Assistance will call upon Lebanese civil society to participate and mobilize in a national day against cluster munitions.

This event is intended to send a message to the international community prior to the Review Conference of the COnvention on Certain Conventional Weapons in Geneva, taking place from November 7-17. This message presents an important opportunity for states to seriously review the devastating humanitarian impact attributed to cluster munitions.

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Canada: Peacekeeper. Humanitarian. Election monitor. Really?

The Dominion’s special issue on Foreign Policy takes a look beyond the official mythology to research and examine the actual role of Canadian mining companies, military operations, development agencies, NGOs, and diplomats. Articles look at Canada’s involvement in Guatemala, Venezuela, Somalia, South Asia, Afghanistan, Palestine, First Nations and others. It includes:

Selectively Terrified: How Hezbollah became a terrorist organization in Canada.

The United Nations Environment Programme is investigating allegations, first published in The Independent, that Israel may have used uranium-based weapons during this summer’s war in Lebanon. Twenty UN experts, working with Lebanese environmentalists, have spent two weeks assessing various samples. They are planning to report their findings in December. (Lire la suite…)

From: Heinrich Böll Foundation

Israel’s offensive in Lebanon between July 12 and August 14 caused almost 1,200 fatalities and the destruction of infrastructure and property to the cost of at least US $ 2.5 billion. But in addition to the loss of life and damage, the war caused several environmental problems that will have long-term consequences. This report will examine the following issues:

• The 15,000 ton oil spill caused by the Israeli air strikes on the fuel tanks of Jiyeh power station;
• The dust and smoke pollution caused by the bombardment;
• Unexploded ordinance, primarily the estimated one million cluster bombs in south Lebanon;
• Impact on farming communities; and
• Long-term implications for the environment and environmental policy.

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Photos

Une soirée de présentations multimédia, d’information, de poésie inspirante et de superbe musique sur le 4ième Journée internationale d’Action contre le mur d’Apartheid Israélien.

Venez en apprendre davantage sur la campagne en effervescence de Boycott,
désinvestissement et sanctions contre l’Apartheid israélien.

Jeudi le 9 novembre à 19h
Maison de l’Amitié, 120 Duluth est
(à l’est de St-Laurent, métro Sherbrooke)

Thé et Boissons. Halte-garderie. Traduction chuchotée (en anglais, français et arabe).

Tracts : boycott_newflyers.pdf. Affiches : boycottposter.pdf

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Aljazeera Online: Thursday 26 October 2006, 1:12 Makka Time, 22:12 GMT

Israel has denied that two of its air force fighter jets fired over a German naval ship patrolling the Lebanese coast.

A report in the Der Tagesspiegel newspaper quoted a German junior defence minister as telling a parliamentary committee that two Israeli F-16 fighters flew low over the ship, firing twice.

The jets also activated infrared countermeasures to ward off any rocket attack, the paper said, in an advance release ahead of Thursday’s edition.
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Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW): First Look at Israel’s Use of Cluster Munitions in Lebanon in July-August 2006

Briefing Delivered by Steve Goose, Director of Human Rights Watch Arms Division, at the Fifteenth Meeting of the Group of Governmental Experts

Geneva, Switzerland, 30 August 2006  
 
(Full report available here.)

Human Rights Watch had researchers in Lebanon and Israel throughout the recent conflict. They were the first to confirm Israel’s use of cluster munitions when they documented an attack on Blida on July 19. Immediately after the cease-fire, they spent six days in south Lebanon, primarily looking at the cluster munition situation.  (Lire la suite…)

Les fusils se sont peut-être calmés, mais des centaines de milliers de bombes à sous-munitions disséminées dans le sud du Liban lors d’au moins 770 frappes israéliennes mettent en danger de mort les humains et les animaux. Depuis le cessez-le-feu, le 14 août, 156 personnes (donnée à jour le 27 octobre 2006) ont été victimes des sous-munitions. Quatre-vingt-dix pour cent des ces personnes sont des civils, dont les tiers sont âgés de moins de 18 ans.

Incidents récents:

17 novembre 2006 – Un citoyen libanais a été blessé par une bombe à sous-munitions israélienne dans le village Yanouh. L’explosion a menée à l’amputation des doigts d’Adel Haider (28 ans). (Lire la suite…)